Light
by Faythren
Summary: Life Versus Living One-Shot. It's hard to find the light sometimes. Sometimes, that pit is just too deep and too dark. But Liv has come to realize that she doesn't have to find the light on her own. And Zach and Gray don't have to do it on their own either.


_**Author's Note**_

 _Alright, I am back in fanfic business!_

 _I had myself a nice little break, participated in Camp NaNoWriMo, and finished my first original work. That needs a lot of editing, so while I do that I'll be doing that on the side while I get back to writing fanfiction._

 _This is the next installment of my Life Versus Living one-shots. It follows after the previous two (my brain is thankfully still thinking these things up in chronological order) and features the reopening of the park along with the return of Zach and Gray!_

 _Now, go onward and enjoy!_

* * *

 _ **Light**_

When fall approaches once again, so does Liv's junior year of high school. She's not excited about it all that much, though, and it's not just because it's _school_ and she'd much rather spend all her time on the island. No, what has all her attention, the thing that _really_ has her excited, is the weekend right after the first day of school.

The park reopens.

Claire and the workers of Jurassic World have been working diligently every day to build the park back up to its former glory. Many repairs have been made so the buildings shine like new, security has tripled—in both the paddocks and in the park itself—under the care of Masrani Global's new security contractor, and preparations have been made for new attractions.

The Aviary is still closed due to the Incident, of course. They have very few adult Pterosaurs left. Most of them managed to escape the island and then were shot down, leaving only a little under two dozen left alive. The scientists have been creating new ones but they're mostly all infants right now, if they've even made it out of their eggs yet.

In any case, the public isn't ready to face the Pterosaurs again, not so soon after what happened. That's why one of the new attractions is a new dinosaur. It won't be ready for the reopening, the scientists haven't even gotten to the stage where they can create the first egg yet, but Claire has leaked a few tidbits here and there to peak people's interests, though still not all that much. All even Liv knows is that it's going to be a herbivore, which has put everyone at ease.

No one wants even the slightest possibility of another Indominus. There's not going to be any new carnivores for a while.

But since there is no new dinosaur yet, Claire has had something else in the works for the reopening.

The park doesn't really have too many rides, so the new bumper car arena in the Pachy area is a nice addition. The arena is constructed right next to the Pachy paddock, the bumper cars themselves designed to look like a Pachysaurus. Liv hasn't been on the ride yet. There haven't exactly been a whole lot of people to play with her on the bumper cars and everyone has been kind of a mother hen about it for "safety reasons" as well.

But she also wants to wait for Zach and Gray.

About a week before the grand reopening, Liv gets a text from Zach saying he and his family are going to come for the weekend, which just makes her even more excited about the reopening than before. She hasn't seen Zach and Gray since they went back home after the Incident. Skype is great but they haven't managed to do it very often, and texts definitely aren't enough. But they'll be together again soon. Her first friends. Her best friends.

This weekend is going to be great.

* * *

Liv fidgets on her feet impatiently, eyes on the sky staring in the direction she knows the helicopter will be coming from. There's only clear, pale blue right now but she knows the helicopter is on its way, carrying Zach, Gray, and their parents.

But she doesn't see it yet. Not yet. So she waits, bouncing on her toes.

"You know how they say a watched pot never boils, right?" Owen asks at her side, lips twisted up in a smirk with amusement.

She rolls her eyes without looking at him. "I know that, but it's not like watching for them is _actually_ going to keep them from coming."

"Then at least tone down on the excitement, seriously. Barry sent me a text on our way here. He said the ladies are a bundle of energy right now."

"Oops." She didn't realize her emotions were bleeding down her bond to the raptors but she's quick to reign herself back in once she realizes it, chuckling sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Liv," Claire says from her other side, shooting Owen a playful glare over her head. "A little bit of excitement never hurt anybody."

"It might hurt me," Owen grouses. "I'm the one who has to go back to the paddock and put up with them."

"Just put them through a couple of training exercises. They'll enjoy that."

"Yeah, they'll probably enjoy it so much that they forget to be gentle with _me_."

Claire's glare goes a bit serious. "Don't go in the paddock then. Going inside the paddock didn't use to be a necessity for training."

"Everything will be fine," Liv chirps, clinging to keep levity in her voice in order to disperse the growing argument. Claire doesn't like it much that they go inside the paddock with the raptors. She still doesn't trust that they won't hurt Liv and Owen. They still could, if Owen or Liv ever did anything wrong, anything the raptors didn't like, but it's not like they're that stupid and they have strong bonds with the squad. "They can be gentle when they want to be and they're always gentle with us. We're-"

"Yes, I know, you're pack," Claire sighs, finishing the familiar line. "I just want the both of you to be safe, that's all."

Liv hesitates for only a moment before stepping closer to Claire, wrapping her arm around Claire's waist in a side hug. Before the Incident, Liv never would have done this with Claire, even if she was more open to the idea of hugging people. Claire herself has never been the type to hug people, especially kids or teenagers, but things are different now. Claire is quickly starting to feel like family.

Claire blinks down at her in surprise a few times before wrapping her arm around Liv's shoulders, drawing her closer.

"We are safe with the raptors," Liv says, resting her head on Claire's shoulder as she stares out over the island. She can't see the paddock from here but she can see the raptors' auras, shining bright like red-orange beacons in a sea of green. "We'll always be safe. They'd never intentionally harm us. What happened with the Indominus is proof of that. They love us too much." She looks up at Claire with a mischievous smile. "Besides, you know Owen is griping just to complain. He likes to do that just to annoy us."

"Yes," Owen says without a lick of shame. "Yes, I do. And it is a lot of fun." He moves closer to them to place a gentle kiss on Claire's temple. "Seriously, Claire, you don't have to worry."

Claire sighs again and opens her mouth to say something, but the rumbling roar of helicopter rotors begins to fill the air. Liv's head instantly perks up, eyes catching on the black speck in the sky that gradually grows larger as the roar grows louder. She takes a few steps further out on the helipad, bouncing on her toes again. Owen chuckles behind her but she ignores him, watching as the copter comes in for a landing. She forces herself to stay put a careful distance away, her hair flying wildly around her face in the wind the rotors generate.

The co-pilot is the first to exit the helicopter as the pilot works on powering the vehicle down, opening the back door so their passengers can get out. Zach is the first one to step down, followed closely by an excited Gray who's babbling a mile a minute about different types of helicopters.

"Liv!" Gray yells when he spots her, all facts about helicopters forgotten as he propels himself forward. The two of them collide in a bunch of smiles and giggles, hugging each other enthusiastically.

"I missed you so much!" Liv enthuses, pulling back so she can get a good look at him. "I think you've gotten taller."

"I have?" he asks excitedly, feeling the top of his head like he can check his own height that way.

"Yeah." He's no longer a head shorter than her. Now it's more like half a head. She sighs deeply. "You're going to end up taller than me at this rate."

"Well, that's not very hard," Zach says with a chuckle as he comes to stand next to them. Gray backs away so Zach can stand in front of her. He looks down at his feet awkwardly, hands stuffed in his pockets, and then looks back up at her through the sweep of his bangs. His hair has grown out some, becoming a bit shaggy. "Hey, Liv."

She fights the urge to giggle again. It's still hard for him to talk to girls, apparently, even her though they've been talking to each other for months. Though it is a bit different in person than over the phone. "Hey, Zach. It's good to see you."

"I-It's good to see you, too," he replies with a small smile.

Gray rolls his eyes dramatically and then steps behind his brother, giving him a hard shove. Zach stumbles forward on his feet, colliding into Liv, and wraps his arms around her instinctively so she doesn't fall. Liv grabs onto his forearms to steady herself, her nose lightly bumping his chest. That's when she realizes that she has to look up a bit more than last time in order to see his face. Zach has grown a few inches, too, well on his way to being six feet. And since Liv is barely five feet tall, well, she feels _short_.

She can't find it in herself to be indignant about it this time though.

Zach's cheeks flush bright read, his mouth opening and closing like he's trying to form an apology, but she doesn't give him a chance. Instead, she steps forward, further into his space, so she can wrap her arms around his waist. With much less hesitation than she thought he would, he wraps his arms around her in return, making her feel safe and warm and surrounded.

It gives her hope, that maybe the feelings that have been steadily growing inside her heart since the Incident really aren't one-sided.

"Alright, alright, break it up, you two," Owen says, looking just shy of pulling them apart himself.

Liv rolls her eyes but does as he says, complaining, "Dad, seriously?"

"What, giving you a hard time is part of my fatherly job. No boys, keep a foot between you at all times, stuff like that."

"Oh, hush," Claire admonishes, smacking Owen lightly on the arm. "I think it's sweet. Leave them alone."

"But I still have to give the shovel talk!"

"You can do it later. Right now, don't you have a report to write?"

"Fine, fine," Owen sighs. "But can't we at least meet the rest of the family?"

"Oh, right, yes." Claire holds out her arm and Karen steps forward, giving her sister a quick hug before facing Owen and Liv. "This is my sister, Karen. Karen, this is Owen."

"Nice to finally meet you," Owen says politely, giving her his most charming smile as he shakes Karen's hand. "Sorry we couldn't meet before."

"That's alright," Karen says. "It was a bit...chaotic." She looks him up and down with a critical eye, totally unaffected by his smile. "So you're Claire's boyfriend, huh?"

Owen swallows thickly. "Yep, that's me."

She hums thoughtfully and Owen actually squirms a little. "You take good care of my sister, you understand me? It's not often she finds a guy she actually wants to try with."

"Karen," Claire whines a little, her cheeks turning a bit pink. "Seriously, everyone, all shovel talks later."

"Hey, I'm just looking out for you, little sis."

"Don't worry, Karen," Owen says, his smile softer this time, genuine. "I'll take care of her."

Karen narrows her eyes at him but her lips tick up in a smile. "You better."

" _Anyway_ ," Claire says pointedly, placing a hand on Liv's shoulder. "This is Liv, Owen's daughter."

Liv holds her hand out to Karen to shake. "Hi, it's nice to meet you, Mrs. Mitchell."

"Oh, no, you have to hug," Karen says, bypassing Liv's hand to wrap her arms around her. Liv stiffens a little at the contact but manages to return the hug. When she sinks into it Karen tightens her arms for a second before letting go, shooting her a wide smile. "And, please, call me Karen. I've heard so much about you. Between the boys and Claire, I feel like I know you already."

"Ditto." Liv looks around before frowning, realizing Zach's and Gray's dad isn't standing among them. "Where's Mr. Mitchell?"

Karen's grin vanishes like melting glue, looking down at her hands as she fiddles with her fingers. And that's when Liv notices it—Karen isn't wearing her wedding band.

"Oh, Kare," Claire gasps in shock when she notices, too, and Karen's eyes begin to water. Claire quickly pulls her into a hug, rubbing her back soothingly. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know," Karen says, voice sounding choked. "I just...I guess I just thought that if I didn't tell anyone, then it wouldn't be real, you know?"

"I thought things were getting better?"

"They were, for a little while anyway. I thought Zach being a mutant too would be the turning point—Scott loves the boys—but he just...he couldn't get past it."

Karen finally breaks down, letting go of all the tears and grief that she must have been holding back for a while now. Claire just holds on, trying to soothe her sister with caresses and soft words.

Then Liv looks at Zach and Gray and her heart just breaks.

Gray is crying silently, one hand clenched in the sleeve of his brother's jacket with tears slipping down his cheeks. Zach's head is bowed, his hair hiding his face, but his shoulders are shaking slightly. He's probably thinking that this is all his fault. Zach was scared of telling his dad he's a mutant, but he did it anyway because he loves him and wanted him to know the truth. But Mr. Mitchell is anti-mutant. That's why the marriage was falling apart before the Incident. His own son being a mutant, it wasn't enough to change his mind.

He hates mutants and doesn't want to have anything to do with them. Not his wife. And not his son.

Liv goes to them instantly, dragging them both into her arms, and they cling to her on either side. Zach tucks his face into her neck and she feels him let go, too, her skin getting wet with tears. She wants to tell him that it's not his fault, his parents were heading down this road before he told the truth, but she's not sure he'd hear her right now. Owen joins them, dragging Claire and Karen over so they're all just one big group hug.

And so Liv cries with them. She just holds them and cries with them, because there are no words to make any of this right.

* * *

Owen and Claire pull them all back together again. What's done is done. Mr. Mitchell made his choice and they have to learn to live with it now. This weekend is supposed to be about relaxing and having fun, so Karen and Claire go off to Main Street to spend some quality adult sister time together while Owen drops Liv, Zach, and Gray off near the Pachy paddock before going back to the Research Center to work on his paperwork.

Zach and Gray are both subdued, just standing there looking at the ground while Liv stares at them. She's not sure how to help them. They're hurting right now and she doesn't know what she can possibly do to make them feel better. But she remembers being faced with this before, when she first met them. They were sad because they knew they were shipped off to their aunt because their parents were working on getting a divorce. So she does the same thing she did that day.

She distracts them, because what they need most right now is to not think about all of it. They just need her to be their friend.

Taking them each by the hand makes them snap out of it, enough to where they look up at her. She gives them both a small smile, one they don't return, but at least they're out of their heads a little. She pulls them towards the Pachy paddock, hoping she doesn't make anything worse.

The Pachy paddock is set up as a circle inside a ring. The inner circle is the actual paddock, where the Pachys are allowed to roam free in a large enclosure. The ring surrounding it is for the park guests, a two story viewing area with large bulletproof windows that allow people to watch the animals. There's also an invisible fence just beyond the glass as well to help ensure guests' safety.

The Pachy Arena is different than the feeding shows. In those, the dinosaurs have to be tempted with food in order to perform. The Pachys need little to no encouragement though. They are naturally volatile, always looking to pick fights, and that's what this attraction is about—watching the Pachys fight each other.

It's not one of Liv's favorite attractions, to be honest. She doesn't like seeing any of the dinosaurs get hurt and having an attraction just to watch dinosaurs fight seems kind of...bloodthirsty to her. But, honestly, even if the Pachys were just roaming free out in the Valley they'd be doing this anyway. The headbutting and the fighting is a natural form of communication to them. It just feels weird for the park to capitalize on it.

Seeing the dinosaurs seems to make Gray cheer up a bit, though. When he sees them he gets that little excited sparkle in his eye. He pushes through the crowd towards one of the windows, dragging Liv along behind him and in turn Zach.

There are quite a few people here for the reopening, a lot more than anticipated, which is a good thing. Even with all the work everyone put into getting the park ready again, Claire was afraid the Incident scared people away for good. They had a little ceremony for the reopening and the estimated number of people in the crowd was well within their average range of guests for first thing in the morning. They've only kept coming since.

Liv didn't go to the ceremony herself, unsure how well people will remember her from the pictures and videos taken of her during the Incident. Claire has gotten most of it shut down, but people still talk of the mutant girl taking down Pterosaurs on Main Street or the mutant girl healing survivors on the mainland. The news has been...predictable when it comes to her. Either they love her or they think she had something to do with the Incident in the first place and condemn her. Liv doesn't want to deal with either scenario so she has a baseball cap on and keeps her head down. Though with her friends by her side, she isn't too worried.

Gray presses himself right up against the glass, watching with absolute interest as two Pachys go at it. Liv and Zach stand right behind him, still holding hands. She looks up at Zach. He's staring into the enclosure but his head is a million miles away again.

Liv weaves her fingers through Zach's and rests her head on his shoulder, both trying to offer comfort and trying to gain his attention again. "It'll get better," she says quietly, just loud enough for only him to hear. "It may not feel like it right now, but it will."

"And how do you know that?" he asks bitterly, like she has no idea what she's talking about. But she does. She certainly does.

"Because I've been there. You've been falling for a long time, in a black pit that no light reaches. You've known that you were going to reach the bottom soon for a while, and now you have and it hurts. It hurts so much that it feels like you can't get up and you have no chance of ever climbing up out of that pit. But you can, Zach. You can because you don't have to do it alone. I didn't have to. I had Owen. And you and Gray and Barry and Claire. You've all been there for me and I've been able to reach the top of that pit. I'm happy, truly happy, for the first time in…ever. So don't give up hope, because you don't have to do it alone either. You have your family. And you have me."

Zach's Adam's-apple bobs and he finally looks at her, eyes glossy. "Does it get easier?"

"You'll have your good days and your bad days," she answers honestly. "And it might take a while before you have more good than bad, but it will get better."

Zach pulls her closer, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight. Liv pushes herself up on her tip toes so she can wrap her arms around his neck, carding her fingers through his hair.

"Thank you," he mumbles against her shoulder.

"I'll always be here for you, Zach. I promise."

He holds her for a moment longer before pulling back with dry eyes and a small smile. "Sorry."

"Don't be. We can't be strong all the time."

"No, I mean I'm sorry for snapping at you. You've been through a lot worse than me."

"Hey." She takes his face in her hands, making him look her in the eye. "Don't go comparing hurts like that. Whether I've been through worse or not, that doesn't make what you're going through any less hard."

"Yeah," he mumbles softly. "Okay."

The air between them changes suddenly, becoming thick, heady. Liv doesn't pull back; she doesn't move her hands from his face. She finds that she can't. She doesn't want to.

Zach tilts his face down towards hers, their lips moving closer and closer together, and Liv's breath hitches in anticipation.

"Zach, Liv, you've got to see this!" Gray yells, pulling them both closer to the glass and out of the moment. Liv blushes, wondering if Gray saw any of that, but by the way he's spouting off facts about Pachys he probably didn't.

A part of Liv wants to be mad at Gray for interrupting whatever that was but since it looks like he's back to normal, excited smile included, she can't really stay mad at him.

She's sure she'll get another chance at that moment eventually. For now, she just focuses on getting the both of them to have fun.

After visiting the Pachys for a while she takes them over to the new bumper car arena. Their eyes absolutely light up when they see it. Claire and Liv both agreed that they'd keep the new attraction a secret from the boys so that it'd be a surprise and now Liv is glad they did. They both rush off to different bumper cars, ready to battle against each other, making her laugh as she picks out her own car.

This is just what they needed.

They while away a few hours in the bumper car arena, getting back in line over and over again so they can bash and crash into each other. They all laugh so much that their cheeks hurt and the darkness recedes completely.

None of them realize how much time passes until Claire and Karen show up to pick up Gray for lunch. The thing is, they're _only_ picking up Gray.

"Here, this is for you," Karen says, handing Zach some money.

Zach takes it automatically but looking just as clueless as Liv feels. "Uh…."

Claire rolls her eyes. "Take Liv out to lunch. Have some fun, just the two of you."

"You mean, like a date?" Liv squeaks, avoiding any eye contact with Zach even though a part of her is dying to know what he's thinking right now.

Is this something that he wants?

"Yes, like a date. And you better get going. I can only keep your father preoccupied with reports for so long before he starts to rebel. And if that happens I'm not sure how successful I'll be in keeping him from crashing your date and doing the shovel talks he promised earlier. So go. Have fun."

With that, the three of them pile into a car and leave, leaving a dumbstruck Liv and Zach in their wake.

Liv slowly turns to Zach, feeling so much more uncertain than she was feeling in the Pachy paddock. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to," she says quietly, still not quite looking at him.

"And what if I do?" he asks, voice just as soft, and holding out a hand to her. She looks up all the way and his eyes are searching her face, questioning, hoping.

She smiles, taking his hand. "Pizza?"

He smiles back. "Pizza sounds good."

* * *

Liv expects it to be awkward. This is her first date. She's never done anything like this before. Sure, she's had crushes—what teenage girl hasn't—but she's never been able to act on any of that before. Now that she can, now that she knows that her feelings are indeed returned, she expects herself to make a fumbling mess of it.

Except it's not awkward. It feels no different than the dozens of other conversations they've had. They just talk and eat and laugh and it feels like they're still friends except with that undercurrent of…more. She can feel it in the way that they're always touching, whether it be their hands atop the table or their feet tangled together.

It both exhilarates and terrifies her. She went so long with things going so wrong in her life, and then so much _good_ happened. She got Owen. She got a real dad, a real family, real friends. But the good can't last, right? There has to come a time when the other shoe drops and everything goes bad again.

Zach could be that other shoe. But she doesn't want that to stop her. It would have before. Before Owen. Now, though, she doesn't want her fears to hold her back anymore.

She wants to live. So she takes the chance to see where this goes. And if it doesn't go anywhere? That's okay, too. At least she tried.

And there's always next time.

But for now, she intends to just enjoy this moment for as long as it lasts.

Though she knows things won't always be all sunshine and rainbows.

There's some money left over after lunch so they go to the movie theater on Main Street, a big IMAX theater that's always playing all the latest movies. Liv's never been to it before because of Vic's tight leash so she's looking forward to it. They pick out something they can both enjoy, an action movie, and then Zach joins the line in order to get the tickets, leaving her waiting near the front doors to the theater. The line is kind of long so Liv wonders over to the movie posters displayed in big illuminated boxes on the outside wall just beyond the doors.

She's looking them over idly when the doors to the theater open and boisterous laughter spills out, followed by three teenagers around Liv's age. She recognizes them from her school on the mainland—Matthew, Jasmine, and Amber. Matthew is gangly and tall with a mop of brown hair, Jasmine is slender with straight black hair that most girls would envy, and Amber is blonde and the kind of skinny with her bones showing a bit too much to be healthy. They're all raciously pushing at each other when they come out of the theater but they all stop when they see Liv.

Liv gulps. These three are part of a larger group at school with a reputation of bullying mutants. She's seen them but avoided them so far, thanks to her own group of friends at school. She should have known her luck would run out eventually, though, because these three don't just happen to go to her school, they're also kids of park workers.

Jasmine looks Liv up and down, Amber and Matthew standing at her shoulders, and all of them giving her unimpressed looks. "I know you," Jasmine says, crossing her arms in front of her chest with her chin tilted up. "You're that new kid. Vivian, right?"

"No, I think it was Olivia," Amber says condescendingly.

Jasmine nods with a cocky smile and Liv stiffens. That's the same sort of smile Vic would give her when he was playing with her. "That's right. Olivia."

"I prefer Liv actually," she corrects. She hates being called Olivia. It reminds her of Vic too much.

Matthew smirks. "So, Olivia, I heard you actually live on Isla Nublar. That true?"

Liv grits her teeth. "Yeah, it is."

"You must come out here to the park all the time then," Jasmine says, voice like plastic. "Does it ever get boring?"

"No, it's fine."

"Well, we think it's pretty boring," Amber says. "I mean, you can only see the same attractions so many times, am I right?"

"And this new one they've got going." Matthew chuckles. "Bumper cars? Really? That's their plan for saving the park? They should have just let the park die because this is just _sad_."

"Just because you think they're boring that doesn't mean everyone thinks that," Liv spits out, frustrated.

Amber rolls her eyes hard. "Oh, please. I know what everyone thinks. They think this park should be closed and these animals put down after what they did."

"These animals haven't done anything wrong!"

"Yeah, they did," Jasmine says like Liv is stupid. "Those flying ones killed all those people."

Liv's fists clench, wanting to deny, to say _anything_ , but what can she say? As far as they know, it's true. They know nothing of the Indominus.

"All the dinosaurs are a menace," Matthew says with a smirk. "It's only a matter of time before something like this happens again."

"If you think it's so dangerous, then why are you here?" Liv asks.

"We're waiting to see how long it lasts before it all burns."

"It won't burn. I won't let it. I don't care what you think. I will protect this island, especially from people like you."

"Wait a minute," Amber says, looking at Liv curiously. "I know you."

Jasmine looks at her friend with a raised brow. "Uh, yeah, from school. We already know that."

"No, I mean from the news footage of the Incident. She's that mutant chick they were talking about during the first few weeks. The one who was controlling all the plants."

Matthew's and Jasmine's eyes light up in recognition and Liv takes a step back.

Crap.

Jasmine barks out a laugh. "Wow. Just wow. It's a wonder you're still here."

"What, you mean after I saw it all firsthand?" Liv asks, fighting not to let her voice tremble. They spread out, stepping forward so Liv is forced to step back, crowding her against the wall.

"Nah, I'm surprised you haven't been locked up for being a freak."

Liv flinches, taking another step back, one of the movie poster display boxes digging into her back. Vic liked that word a lot. Freak. Owen tells her she's not a freak. Her new friends at school don't think she's a freak either. They're a good bunch of friends. Some of them are even mutants, and some of them aren't. But even the normals don't think mutants are freaks. They just see them as people, and they protect Liv and the other mutants in their group from the bullies and the haters.

She's so used to her identity as a mutant being a secret. She's been lucky at school, but her friends aren't here to protect her now.

The three of them surround Liv, their laughs mocking and their taunts spearing Liv in the stomach over and over again with Vic's voice echoing them.

"You're a freak."

"All of you are freaks."

"Your kind should never have existed."

"They should lock you all up and throw away the key."

"Leave her alone!" Zach's voice cuts through the air, startling the trio into silence. He pushes through them until he can stand between Liv and the bullies, arms spread protectively. She can't see his face but she can see the tension in his back and feel the fury he's radiating.

Jasmine looks him up and down but not in the same way she did Liv. This is hungry, predatory, like a tiger looking over a piece of meat. "Don't bother, pretty boy. That girl isn't worth your time. She's a freak."

Zach reaches back with his left hand and Liv takes it, squeezing tight. "She's not a freak, she's my girlfriend. Now back off."

"You know your girlfriend's a mutant?"

"She's not the only one."

There's an overhang above them, a part of the theater that helps keep people in the ticket line out of the rain and houses the sign displaying the movies playing. There's a line of light bulbs underneath the overhang, off now because it's the middle of the day, but suddenly five of them in a row right over the bullies' heads light up bright and hot and then explode, raining sparks down on them. The girls scream, all of them raising their arms to protect their heads.

With wide eyes, they look at Zach and Liv in fear.

"Leave," Zach growls. "Now."

They scamper off, never once looking back over their shoulders.

Zach uses his grip on Liv's hand to gently guide her inside. They get their tickets torn, bypass the concessions, and head straight into their theater, taking a couple of seats in the back. The theater is empty except for a couple of people towards the middle and front. It's still early afternoon with most people still out enjoying the park. Plus, they're here a bit early for their showing, so for now, they can talk quietly in relative privacy.

"You shouldn't have done that," Liv whispers, staring at Zach in the dim lighting.

Zach shrugs. "I just wanted to scare them a little so they'd leave."

"You still shouldn't have done it."

"Why? They deserved worse. It isn't right, picking on you just because you're different."

"That doesn't make what you did right either. They're just scared of us, mutants, and they're scared because they don't understand. That's why people are afraid of the dinosaurs now. After the Incident, everyone sees them as monsters even though they never really did anything wrong. None of it was their fault. It was only the Indominus. But because of one dinosaur, all of them are condemned.

"It's the same with mutants. They're scared of all of us because of the actions of a few. It's up to us to prove them wrong. If we were to fight back, if we were to continue to scare them like you did just now, then it would only be proving them right, that they have good reason to be afraid, and they'll start locking us all up. We have to show them that we're different."

It's something Owen has taught her. Liv used to be so afraid of everybody, anybody, finding out she's a mutant, but he encouraged her not to give up on normal humans. Not all of them are anti-mutant, and the ones who are? They believe a misconception that has been drilled into their heads for generations.

But it doesn't have to stay that way. All it takes is a little bit of kindness, a good helping of patience, and a lot of forgiveness in order to wipe the hate away.

Zach is silent for a long time, looking down at their clasped hands sitting on the armrest between them. "Do you really think we can prove them wrong? That they can...change their minds about us?"

She knows he doesn't just mean normal humans in general. He's thinking of his dad.

"You won't know until you try," she tells him softly, and when he looks up at her his eyes look so _lost_.

But there's also a little bit of hope in them, for the first time since she found out what happened.

"How have you not lost sight of your light, after everything you've been through?" he asks.

She smiles, leaning towards him and pressing a soft kiss to his mouth. After a heartbeat he cups her face in his hand, kissing her back.

A trill goes down Liv's spine, and when they separate they're both smiling.

"It's like I said earlier," she says softly, "I haven't lost sight of it because I have people in my life who help me keep it in focus."

He kisses her this time, and Liv knows everything is going to be okay now. So long as they stick together, they can lead each other out of the darkness.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _This chapter certainly went a lot of places, didn't it? I'm not sure what ultimately made me decide to have Zach's and Gray's parents go through with the divorce, to have Mr. Mitchell unable to get over the fact that both his wife and son are mutants. I guess it just felt...right in my head, but I didn't want it to be totally hopeless either, which is why I had to leave that little bit of hope at the end._

 _And Liv's and Zach's relationship is coming along nicely. I'm not sure how much more of it I'll do, though I do kind of what to do more with Owen's impending shovel talk, lol. We'll just have to wait and see where the characters take me on that front._

 _Then there's the mutant-haters at the end. I know characters in LVL have said in passing how bad it can be for mutants, so I wanted to show a little bit of that. Plus, I wanted to show that not everyone is happy about the park reopening._

 _Anyway, not sure when I'm going to have next chapter up, or even what the next chapter is going to be. Two ideas are warring inside my head right now and I need to start planning/writing my Move Along sequel. Hopefully it won't be too long though._

 _Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!_


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